Steel reel having a polyurethane covering

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for storing wire cable wherein filaments or continuous wire are braided into a cable and the cable is stored on a steel reel having a polyurethane elastomeric covering.

United States Patent Inventors Roger C. Martin Rockmart, (3a.; Richard L. Wert Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; John A. Svaline, Prospect Heights, Ill. Appl. No. 722,289 Filed Apr. 18, 1 968 Patented July 13, 1971 Assignee The Goodyear Tire 8: Rubber Company Akron, Ohio STEEL REEL HAVING A POLYURETHANE COVERING 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

[1.5. CI 242/77 3, 242/ l17:242/1 18.8

Int. Cl B6511 75/14 Field of Search 242/118.7,

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 2,568,979 9/1951 Barnhart et a1. 242/118.4 X 2,571,341 10/1951 Cororey et a1. 242/117 2,578,622 12/1951 York 242/117 X 2,605,978 8/1952 Allard 242/117 2,954,702 10/1960 Peterson 242/117 X 3,362,283 1/1968 Dergachev et a1.. 87/33 Primary ExaminerGeorge F. Mautz AttorneysF. W. Brunner and J. D. Wolfe ABSTRACT: An apparatus for storing wire cable wherein filaments or continuous wire are braided into a cable and the cable is stored on a steel ree1 having a polyurethane elastomeric covering. I

PATENTEBJULHIQH 3,592,406

FIG. I

INVENTOR. ROGER C. MARTIN JOHN A. SVALINE RICHARD ATTOR STEEL REEL HAVING A POLYURETHANE COVERING This invention relates to a method of storing wire cables and to a method of making improved apparatus for use in storing wire cables. to said apparatus and the storage reels per se.

Aluminum or copper cable as used in high voltage electric transmission systems is normally prepared by extrusion of the base metal stock to form a continuous wire or filament which is stored on an aluminum reel to await its being fed to a braider to form a cable. This cable is stored on aluminum reels and then prior to being carried to the construction site the aluminum or copper cable is transferred from the aluminum reel to a steel reel having a vinyl coating. Also, it is necessary to place heavy paper between the cable and the vinyl-coated steel reel to further protect the cable and to prevent the cable from being damaged out in the open atmosphere due to galvanic action or other atmospheric conditions. Also, the vinylcovered steel reels must be recovered after each trip to the field.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved method for storing and handling aluminum or copper wire and/or cable to avoid some of the steps heretofore considered to be necessary and essential in the handling and storage of cable and to provide steel reels that can be reused without a new cable-protective coating applied after each use.

The above objects and advantages of this invention may be further illuminated by reference to the drawings wherein FIG. I is a schematic view showing the preparation of cable by a braider and its storage on a reel and FIG. 2 is an elevational side view ofa storage reel having a polyurethane coating.

Referring specifically to FIG. I a number of reels 3 with single strands 4 of wire are shown mounted rotatably in a support means 5 with the wire from each reel passing to a braider 6 where the individual strands of wire are braided into a cable 7. The cable passes from the braider to a wrap-up or storage reel 8 which is mounted rotatably on a suitable support 9.

In general, the single strands are formed by extrusion of the hot metal stock and then it is passed when sufficiently cool to a temporary wire storage reel 3 where it awaits its transfer to the braiding area where the wire is threaded to the braider to twist the individual wire strands into a cable which is stored on the storage reel 8. Normally the storage reels are of relatively large size being approximately 84 inches high with a 45 inch width. Thus, a reel of this size will normally handle about 9,000 feet of cable having a weight of about 8,000 pounds. Of course, it should be emphasized that it would be desirable to be able to go to even larger storage reels, for instance, 10 feet high and 90 inches in width.

With these tremendous weights upon the reel and the tremendous speeds at which the cable comes from the braider, it is easy for the cable to be placed under unusual tension when the cable binds on the side of the reel and thus injure the reel or the cable. This disadvantage is avoided by the use of a steel storage reel which contains thereon a coating of a polyurethane elastomer.

Referring to FIG. 2 it will be noted that the steel reel 8 includes a center core 10 and a circumferential flange 11 extending radially from each end thereof and the surface of the reel that receives the cable is covered with a coating of elastomeric polyurethane 12 as is best seen in FIG. 2.

This coating of the steel reel with the polyurethane elastomer is achieved by sandblasting or otherwise cleaning the steel reel and then applying a suitable primer to the sandblasted surface, then a coat of a polyurethane is applied to give a coating of about 8 to 15 mils thickness. The coating may be cured by standing at room temperature for several hours to several days or the cure may be hastened by subjecting the coating to a cure at elevated temperatures, say at 100 to 250 F. for a few minutes to 3 or 4 hours.

A suitable primer is a solvent solution of an epoxy compound and a polymer or copolymer of conjugated diene of about four to eight carbon atoms. A specific primer found to beprefe rred is a methyl ethyl ketone solution of epoxy-bis phenol and a rubbery copolymer of butadiene acrylonitrile.

Other primers are the adhesives employed in forming hightemperature-resistant bonds between the above-described polyurethane elastomers and metal reels which are a mixture of (A) a resinous copolymer of from 50 to percent by weight of styrene and from 50 to 20 percent by weight of acrylonitrile and (B) polyisocyanates more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,683,730 and which may be described as mixtures defined by the formula OCN-R-(CY NCO),,

in which R and R are arylene radicals, Y is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl and aryl radicals, n is a whole number, and the (CY -RNCO) groups in excess of one are attached to an R radical, the mixtures containing at most 20 to 60 percent of the diisocyanate.

The polyurethanes used for coating the steel reel are any of the elastomeric polyurethanes having good abrasion resistance and dielectric strength. Representative polyurethanes can be made by reacting a reactive hydrogen containing material of about 700 to 7,000, preferably 1,500 to 3,500 molecular weight with an organic polyisocyanate, preferably a diisocyanate, and then curing with a suitable cross-linking agent selected from the lower polyols, alcoholic amines and polyamines. It is preferred that the reactive hydrogen material and the polyisocyanate first be reacted to form a prepolymer although the one-shot method of preparation may be used.

The following examples are representative of the method in which this invention may be practiced with all the parts being by weight unless otherwise indicated.

EXAMPLE I A steel reel suitable for use in this invention is prepared by taking a reel such as that shown in FIG. 2 and subjecting it to a sandblast treatment to remove may rust or scale on the surface of the reel to receive the cable, then applying a primer coating over this surface that is to receive the cable. A methyl ethyl ketone diluted mixture of the epoxy compound prepared from his phenol and epichlorohydrin and a rubbery copolymer of acrylonitrile butadiene was brushed on the freshly cleaned surface of the reel and allowed to stand and dry at room temperature. Then a spray coat of a polyurethane was applied over the primer coat by spraying the polyurethane indicated below.

A sprayable polyurethane reaction mixture was prepared by reacting 6 mols of toluene diisocyanate (commercial 80/20 isomeric mixture) with a mixture of 2 mols of an 80 percent ethylene-20 percent propylene adipate polyester of about 1,800 molecular weight and 1 mol of a polytetramethylene adipate of about 1,800 molecular weight to form a prepolymer. This prepolymer parts) was diluted with 30 parts methyl ethyl ketone and 30 parts toluene with 5 parts 10 percent cellulose acetate butyrate in cellosolve acetate to give a diluted prepolymer.

This diluted prepolymer (100 parts) was mixed in a suitable spray gun with 29.5 parts of a mixture of 15 parts of a gray vinyl acrylic lacquer and 14.5 parts of a curative consisting of 6.5 parts methylene bis(2-chloroaniline), 1.1 parts of mercaptobenzothiazole and 6.9 parts of methyl ethyl ketone immediately before the reaction mixture was sprayed on the sandblasted steel reel which was previously treated with a primer to build up a coating of about 8 to 25 mils thickness. The polyurethane-coated steel reel was allowed to air cure at room temperature (Ca 70 F.) for 14 days.

The physical properties of the polyurethane coat were determined and are listed in the table below:

EXAMPLE ll The polyurethane-coated reel from example I was mounted on the reel support 9 of FIG. 1 and used to roll up and store the cable being produced on the braider shown in FIG. I. This reel containing copper or aluminum cable was allowed to remain in the inside warehouse storage until the cable was needed in the field at which time it was hauled into the field by trucks and the cable was strung on poles in the normal manner. At the time the cable on the reel was all removed the reel was examined and was found to be in suitable condition to be returned and reused to store cable coming from the braider without any repairs. Also, the cable was examined and found to be free of any galvanic damage due to the electrical potential developed between the aluminum or copper cable and the steel reel.

In addition to the polyester used in example I for coating the cable, other reactive hydrogen containing materials such as a polytetramethylene ether glycol of about l,O2,000 molecular weight or a hydroxyl-terminated polymer of butadiene-styrene could be used to produce the elastomeric coating on the steel reel in accordance with this invention.

In general, about 1.2 to 3.2 mols of an organic polyisocyanate per mol of reactive hydrogen containing material of about 700 to 7,000 molecular weight is used to make the elastomeric materials useful in this invention. Also, about 0.5 to 0.9 mols of crosslinker per mol of excess organic polyisocyanate relative to the reactive hydrogen containing material is utilized to obtain a cured elastomer. Although where a mercaptobenzothiazole-type catalyst is used the amount of crosslinker may be as high as l.l mol per mol of excess organic polyisocyanate without appreciably affecting the physical properties of the elastomer. Normally, the elastomer will be applied at least as a coating of about 5 mils in thickness and preferably 8 mils or more in thickness.

While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

What we claim is: 1. A steel reel suitable for storage of copper and aluminum cable, including a center core having circumferential flanges extending radially from each end thereof, said core and flanges having at least the surfaces receiving the cable covered with an elastomeric polyurethane coat at least 5 mils thick.

2. The steel reel of claim 1 wherein the polyurethane is the reaction product of about 1 mol of a reactive hydrogen containing material of about 700 to 7,000 molecular weight with about 1.2 to 3.2 mols of an organic polyisocyanate and a crosslinker having a molecular weight of less than 500 and selected from the class of the lower polyols, alcoholic amines and organic polyamines.

3. The steel reel of claim 2 wherein the reactive hydrogen containing material is selected from the polyester diols, the polyether glycols and the hydrocarbon diols.

4. The reel of claim 3 wherein the crosslinker is an organic diamine. 

2. The steel reel of claim 1 wherein the polyurethane is the reaction product of about 1 mol of a reactive hydrogen containing material of about 700 to 7,000 molecular weight with about 1.2 to 3.2 mols of an organic polyisocyanate and a crosslinker Having a molecular weight of less than 500 and selected from the class of the lower polyols, alcoholic amines and organic polyamines.
 3. The steel reel of claim 2 wherein the reactive hydrogen containing material is selected from the polyester diols, the polyether glycols and the hydrocarbon diols.
 4. The reel of claim 3 wherein the crosslinker is an organic diamine. 